


Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite.

by Knit1298



Series: Adam was special [5]
Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:40:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25144831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knit1298/pseuds/Knit1298
Summary: Blinking awake in the morning from his alarm clock going off, Jim found himself in his own bed. His mind groggy, his body feeling like being made of lead, though getting lighter by the minute. Grabbing the bottle of water from his night stand, he groaned lowly, trying to wash away the furry feeling in his mouth.
Series: Adam was special [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1425499
Kudos: 11





	Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite.

“The cameras on the next floor are still active, be careful moving around there. Supposedly there are two guards on patrol and an automated turret guarding the corridor to the network hub. If you don't want to glass cloak, you either need to get me access to the security system of that level or find a way to circumvent the door. Blue prints do show a small shaft going through there, but it's unclear where to get into it or if they actually built it in at all.” A voice nearby started in an all business like tone to get an irate edge at the end.  
“Yeah, yeah, the inaccuracy of stolen blueprints..., outright scandalous.” someone else answered over what sounded like speakers.  
“Har, Har..., these plans were heavily guarded and encrypted, why bother if those aren't even correct?” the first man again, voice now full with snide.  
“Maybe to ward off intruders like us, lure us into a trap.” came a friendly teasing reply.  
“Tsk. Better security systems would do wonders on that account, whoever created this was just sloppy. Like those guys responsible for accurate data.”  
“Pritchard, are you seriously complaining about the security system not being that good, while we are breaking in here?”  
“Sloppy work still is sloppy work, Jensen, doesn't matter if we are taking advantage of it.” An amused and definitely disbelieving snort to that sneered retort drowned out another low muttered statement about the lacking fun of hacking that kind of lacklustre system.  
The voice sounding up at a small distance to the right of Jim was unknown to him, the other coming from the speakers was on one hand pretty familiar without having needed to hear the name, but on the other oddly strange too. More relaxed, more open, more- everything, than the Australian ever had heard it. Agent Adam Jensen, as had been confirmed. The other name, Pritchard, stirred up something in the back of Jim's mind he couldn't grasp at the moment.  
The director of TF29 Central Europe had woken up to those two voices going back and forth, although 'woken up' might stretch his current state a bit far. His mind felt slow and foggy, his body, while being warm and apparently lying on a soft surface, was heavy as lead. Trying to speak up, to demand an explanation didn't work, as neither did he manage to just crack an eye open to check out his surroundings nor consciously was able move any muscle at all. Having no recollection of where he was and how he had ended up here, plus apparently being put under, his upwelling doubts and distrust merged into a rather vivid mental image of a “Told you so!” from Mac personified.  
Had Jensen, had _Adam_ betrayed him? What the hell was the agent even doing there? Breaking in into some facility from what it sounded like, but-, a place unknown or related to TF29?

Occupied with his slowly spiralling thoughts, the conversation of the other two men had turned into background noise right until a shrill beep focussed Jim's attention back again.  
“Shit!” the man nearby hissed at what only could to be an alarm.  
“What's wrong, did I trip something?” Agent Jensen was asking immediately.  
“No, you are all good there, someone is trying to breach the security system of Miller's apartment.”  
“What? Do you know who, from where-” the concern resonating there now resembled the agent's tone back in that cursed kitchen in London.  
“You focus on the network server, Jensen, I've got this.”  
“But if anyone-, they already tried-, you need to-” Jim almost would have called Jensen's tone frantic there.  
“Adam, trust me, he's save.” his host/captor insisted.  
“It's nearly the time he usually heads home to call Australia, if someone-, he's not yet recovered from-” A slump of ice formed inside the director's gut, if they knew about what he did when in this detail, if they knew about calling the kids, if-  
“Gods damn Jensen, you do your part, I do mine, Miller isn’t home, he's save, so get through that damn door there!” this Pritchard guy was quickly losing his patience  
“If he's still at TF29 you need to delay his departure until-” Just as stubborn as Jim knew him as, Jensen wouldn't let himself being deterred that easily, his partner in crime cut him short though.  
“Are you even listening, he's save, so stop getting distracted and do what you came for! The faster you are done, the sooner we can make sure the apartment is clear again and move your boss back there.”  
“Move back-, what the hell are you talking about! Where's Miller, Francis?!” the Aug was sounding damn serious now, a bit like shouting without actually getting loud.  
The other man sighed pointedly.  
“He's here with me, sleeping on my couch and will do so for at least 5 hours more.”  
“What-, have you gone mad?! You've-, _abducted_ Miller-, and-, _put him under_ , god damn Pritchard, the man still is recovering from the Orchid, that risk is un-” Jensen sounded horrified and worried, yet the clearly audible angry protectiveness at least soothed some of Jim's fears about what all this was about. Pritchard though interrupted the agent again quite irritated.  
“Oh shut up, I know all that, Jensen! I have the medical files right here and had a first row seat watching all that crap at London happening too. Suzanne's doctor friend was careful with the dosage. Nobody saw us and your task-force's little bat-cave is all quiet too. It's not even a real sedation but simple sleeping pills and a muscle relaxant. Your boss is alright, sleeping right behind me. Probably will even help with the recovery to get a good night’s rest for once. He'll be back in his own bed before waking up and none the wiser. Fuck, I'm brilliant, Adam, but even I can't keep my eyes on both of you if there is an imminent threat while you are away on a mission.”  
Jim's head was swimming with all the implications given there, as Jensen's voice cut through everything, the usual so even and neutral voice suddenly sounded outright furious and damn threatening.  
“You _**knew**_ someone was coming for Miller and didn't-”  
“I didn't _**know**_ anything Jensen, there just were some odd occurrences this afternoon and with you out of the city I didn't want to take a risk. Would you now return to the task at hand, _**please**_?” the man called Francis shot back rather prickly, not in the least being intimidated by the agent's aggressive tone.  
There was typing on a keyboard then, the air growing rather tense.  
“'m sorry.“Jensen eventually mumbled. “I know you-, I shouldn't have jumped at-” weird too, to hear the stoic agent this awkwardly apologetic.  
“Just-” the man next to Jim sighed heavily. “It doesn't matter, Adam, I should have told you from the start. I'll keep you in the loop if they try more than getting into the security system.”  
“Yea, that would be- “Jensen didn't end that sentence either. Only adding after a pause, “And Francis, thank you.”  
The answer to that was sort of an embarrassed mumble before they returned to what only could be described as mission chatter, making Jim wonder once more what Jensen actually was doing there.  
Listening to them, it quickly became obvious how easy they went back and forth, clearly being used to communicate like this, to work together. The trust each of them had into the other's abilities, opinions and decisions. What kind of support this Pritchard guy offered, support that Adam accepted easily too. How they worked as a real team. And how different this was to the taciturn and distant agent, to the stoic loner Jim and the taskforce knew Adam Jensen as, both during their missions and outside of them. _But then he had seen a glimpse of this in London, hadn’t he?_

“The data is pouring into my network now. Good. If you didn't find anything else of interest in there, I'll signal Faridah to ready for pick up.”  
“Same way out?”  
“Can't detect any alarms in the system, the patrols still are ignorant of anything too, no one should know you are there and the way free to go.”  
“Copy that.”  
After a time of more clattering on a keyboard Jim could not determine, there was another audio signal going off.  
“Shit!” the hacker grumbled. “Jensen, there is someone trying to get into the apartment for real now. Cloaked it seems, but my little surprise should help with that. Maybe this time we get enough to identify someone.” _This time?_  
“You keep an eye on the computers?” There was the low hum of a vehicle in the background of Jensen.  
“Yeah, the moment someone tries to access them or just finds the hidden desk, a deletion protocol is activated. But they still struggle with the door right now. Tsk, expecting a mere standard lock eh? Have fun with my upgraded version!” _Wha-? They knew about his hidden-, Christ!_

“You said you'd keep me in the loop.” Jensen grumbled a bit tersely a while later.  
“They still haven't cracked the lock.”  
“How long are they trying now, about ten minutes? That's taking a rather big risk of getting detected.”  
“Except when being particularly careful of not tripping any alerts with TF29's linked home security system, maybe even exactly knowing how to avoid it. Also not turning visible for even one second.”  
“Mil-spec augs then.” Jensen sighed heavily.  
“We still have a chance to bust them. Way better prepared this time.” So, something like this really has happened before? Jim listened uneasily while a rather tense silence settled between the other two men.  
“They are inside, in theory they managed to get infected with my virus, but to locate anything they have to reuse those tools elsewhere.”  
“Which real professionals wont do.” the agent muttered darkly, “What are they doing now?”  
“Searching for something, I'll wipe the computers clean just to be sure.”  
“Chang really won't notice anything there?”  
“Seriously, Jensen, after all this time? Chang lacks a few years experience to find me. As long as we don't mess with anything there, just copying an image of all the wiped data back, once the apartment is secured again, there won't be traces left to find. It's the same routine I used for your stuff, the last time someone visited your apartment.” Definitely not the first break-in then, and Adam hadn't informed anyone about his apartment being compromised?  
“Hmm, seem to be placing some new bugs now. Come on, just a few steps further and watch out for the birdie!” was muttered, before the following anticipating silence suddenly was broken by a victorious “Gotcha!”

“Hah, now that scared them. Break the cloaking and they run immediately. But I got them this time, these scanner results should give us a lead about who we are dealing with-” The man fell silent.  
“That bad?” Jensen asked quietly after a long moment, sounding like expecting the worst. “Gold mask like or Tyrant like?”  
“Tyrant.” the other voice answered immediately and rather deflated.  
“So it's not the Collective then. Rather the other side. Page and his friends in the shadows... Fuck!” Jensen’s frustration and worry was clearly audible again. “Any chance to find out if they would have had free access without your improvements?“  
“They didn't have the pass-codes, but most likely knew exactly how Chang secures the home systems. You think Manderley might be involved again.” _A statement more than a question..._  
“Through him they manipulate the task-force. Hopefully it didn't raise too many suspicions for Millers apartment to be secured better than it should.” _Manderley manipulating the task-force?!_

After apparently having fallen asleep again, next time Jim’s mind consciously registered voices, they were both present in the same room with him. The hand checking his pulse at his carotid definitely was an artificial one. Touching him gently though, just like back at the kitchen of the Apex Centre. The warmth of it surprising him just as much as it had back then.  
“Told you he was asleep. You worry too much.”  
Jensen answered with something between a relieved sigh and an annoyed grumble.  
“Stop brooding like that and spit out what's wrong!” Jensen's partner chastised the agent after a while of ongoing sounds of someone rummaging through things. Of stuff being placed somewhere, all while keystroke clatter on a keyboard provided a constant background noise.  
“Are we putting him in danger? By making sure they can't bug his apartment and keep them out of the system? Are we the reason-...” There it was again, the soft and so worried voice. _I won't let you die here..._  
“Or maybe they just want to finish what they started in London.” the other voice interrupted a little impatiently, changing to a more amending tone then. “It's possible Adam, but what is the alternative? To let both the Collective and the Illuminati have a free go at him, let them get stuff to use for blackmail and the like? You really think he'd risk his kids' safety or health when being forced to choose?” Ice was gripping Jim again, this time like a cold hand squeezing his heart.  
“No. But-” the agent sounded quite guilt ridden there.  
“Adam, he got on their shit-list all by himself even before we got involved.” _What?!_  
“I know, it's just-“ another deep sigh from the agent.  
“A big damn mess.” the other man grumbled, getting an agreeing grunt from Jensen.

Again some working on whatever in silence.  
Next Jim knew were curses then, discussions about that intruder again. The augments. Christ, as this Pritchard guy lined them out one by one, it sounded as decked out as Jensen himself was. Custom mil-spec. Though from TYM apparently. More mentions of the Tyrants, comparisons to a Barret, a sneaky bitch and one Namir.  
Were they really talking about the _TYRANTS_ there, that almost mythical and infamous group of mercenaries that had been whispered about a few years back? Usually in fear and unease even among special forces units? Said to be heavily augmented, to usually leave nothing behind but scorched earth and no survivors? How and when had Jensen had a run in with a group like that, and had survived the confrontation as it sounded. Confrontations even, plural.  
_Someone like that had broken into his apartment? Christ!_

Blinking awake in the morning from his alarm clock going off, Jim found himself in his own bed. His mind groggy, his body feeling too damn heavy, though getting lighter by the minute. Grabbing the bottle of water from his night stand, he groaned lowly, trying to wash away the furry feeling in his mouth.  
Christ, one of the bad mornings again, this damn odd disoriented feeling, like being in the wrong place, almost like having a blackout after too much drinking, only that the rest of the hangover symptoms were missing. Taking stock of his bedroom usually helped, he clearly was at his apartment, there was nothing out of place, everything in its proper place, everything normal. And yet, why couldn’t he remember going to bed yesterday, not what he had eaten, or if anything at all he mused as the thought of food was followed by a rather insistent growl of his stomach. He had been at work, arguing with the Czech state secretary over the phone again, their understanding of their responsibilities and jurisdictions clashing again. He’d waved Aria goodbye and then-, then there was nothing of the rest of the day.  
Or better to be said, what was there, hazily at best, made no sense. A feeling of gently being lifted up, a somewhat familiar smell of smoking, mixed with weapons oil. Some fragmented recollections of a discussion about some sort of portable cloaking device. Talk about an apartment's security, about bugs and risks of ongoing observation. He also thought to remember a shock of ice cold fear on hearing words.  
“At least the girl is going to be fine. Her doctor finally got all the papers together and the other father signed his agreement too. When we are done here, I'll make sure the travel documents and the financial parts are in order. Then there is nothing keeping her from being treated by SCM any longer.”  
A low murmur of “Something good at least.”, a “Thank you, Francis.” and an “As if I'd leave a child to that fate any more than you'd do, really...” that just didn’t make sense. It was the same awfully frightening feeling he had when thinking about his daughter’s illness, but why? Another nightmare? 

He’d fallen asleep again, waking up for real some time later though, his mind was still blank for the most part. Jim really struggled to decide whether those hazy almost memories even could be real or were just another too vivid and weird dream. Since London there were a lot of those, nightmares for the most part but now and then also imagined events he thought to remember later and had quite some difficulties to discern from reality. Maybe the doctors were right and this job and the Orchid really was getting to him.  
_What though if it hadn’t been a dream? What if it had been real, if he really had been there, if Jensen, if Adam had-..._  
It might have been fortunate an urgent call from Mac got him out of these spiralling thoughts into the here and now, reporting an emergency at office. Leaving Jim no time to think this over and over again, to ponder whether to go searching for listening devices or any other clues, to wonder how to act now just in case someone indeed was observing him, how to make sure what was real. _How to not lose his addled mind._

The crisis at HQ hadn't been too severe, in hindsight Jim concluded it probably had been an attempt to help him finding his way back into the routine of their job after London or Duncan trying to give him a sense of accomplishment. Even strongly suspecting that, it had worked. It had felt damn good again and more importantly had distracted him from thinking about dreaming up listening devices, break-ins and spies, worries about who else might-... _No, he wouldn't go down that lane now._  
It all came back in full though, when some time later Chang asked for an appointment to discuss TF29's cyber security. On itself that wasn't really a new occurrence, the Cybercrime specialist regularly came up with new ideas or perceived threats. Yet before Jim had seen it as paranoia for the most part, now? It made him nervous too.  
Wondering about if and how deeply Jensen's partner in crime had infiltrated them. Frank Pritchard existed for real as he had found out, an ex co-worker of Jensen, ex head of cyber security at Sarif Industries. Knowing the name as being checked out during the agents background check too, though the man had been nowhere to find since the bankruptcy of Sarif Industries. A former black hat, a hacker turned asset, just like Peter Chang, though quite a bit more infamous. 

The mere thought of someone possibly listen in on everything he did and said, plus the inability to tell what was real or not about that night, was driving him half crazy sitting at his desk. The fear of their own bosses really being involved in this mess somehow, the far reaching consequences of that.  
Since it was too true, ever since that Dubai operation, Manderley had given them some odd orders, had interfered with investigations. But outright getting them, getting _him_ killed on purpose? Manipulation at a large, world wide scale?

Jensen had arrived at office that morning as if nothing had happened. Appearing the same stoically distant as ever. For a second Jim had wondered if he would actually notice anything if the agent really went out on his own during his off hours. How much sleep did he even need with all those augs? If this dream had been reality, there couldn't have been much time left with that secret break-in, where ever the hell it had been, and that whole bringing him back home and making the apartment safe again. Odd how Jim actually didn’t doubt that being their true intention, dream or not.  
Over the next few days he often had felt being watched and managed to catch Adam a few times looking into his direction, being nearby without real reason. Yet it could just be coincidence, other members of the team looked at him in concern too, knowing too well that London had taken its toll. He had looked into a mirror this morning himself, knew that nothing could hide those shadows under his eyes, nor the way he got distracted in conversations, loosing his thread of thought way more often than he used to.  
Still, Jim was a little proud of himself, managing to keep a straight face when Chang eventually suggested some changes with the security protocols, updates of the home systems. Wondering in his mind if this too was a mere coincidence, a real conspiracy from those who maybe had broken in his home for real or Jensen's actually not dreamed up partner pulling strings? And would this leave him safer or even more at risk?

Quite frustrated, Jim had decided not to tell anyone, he still couldn’t be sure what was real and had enough crap to hear from the doctors about the remnant issues from the Orchid. Instead, while he might not be as experienced in this whole cloak and dagger business, he went to look by himself, paying more attention, playing dumb, what ever was necessary to know for certain.  
At some point he wasn’t sure if he better should have left all that mess in his dreams…  
Whom do you report to if the big boss is crooked? What do you do if you no longer knew, whom to trust or if any of those rules and laws meant to prevent just this still were worth the paper they once had been written on. If there was any form of legal justice left at all. How far this mess actually reached.  
_At least he wasn’t going mad..._

It shouldn't really have surprised him to catch that so familiar faint whiff of smoking and weapons oil lingering in his apartment again at times, though he tried not to think too much about what might have made Jensen to break in there again. No longer believing it a dream had made some of those fractured memories of that night clearer. They didn’t mean him harm. The day Susie had called him, grinning broadly, excitedly telling about the therapy centre, how nice everyone was, how well her recovery was coming along, had brought Jim to peace about the deep betrayal of trust. Merely wondering now when actually had been the first time.  
During the Ruzicka investigation, he decided eventually, remembering Adam changing his behaviour, starting to become less guarded, more honest with Jim, at least to a certain degree.  
Realising that stoic distance, the constant guard the taciturn agent usually maintained, his irritating behaviour was not mere arrogance and not just simple insubordination. Navigating the conversations with Manderley these days, Jim began to understand most of it was carefully masked distrust. The knowledge there was a rotten core to the agency, just not knowing who was part of it and who just followed orders. And Christ, how damn difficult it was to act somewhat normal nonetheless.  
His headaches were back. Naturally he trusted Mac but hesitated to tell him without having something more to show than the vague hints and guesses he had. While Jim also believed that Jensen was not a real criminal, he still didn't know anything about the agent's reasons or true affiliations. Talking to Aria, listening to Fletcher or Rourke, or any other analyst or agent though, he began to ask himself if they-...  
Then one day he sat in Auzanne's office listening to her droning about his stress level and psychosomatic crap, as it hit him out of the blue, although he should have realised this as soon as he had learned about Manderley being dirty. Joseph himself had sent her to Prague, she was reporting directly to Lyon. And Adam avoided her like a plague.  
_Christ! What the hell was he to do?_

Sooner or later it had been bound to come to this, really a sort of an inevitable outcome. Jim standing in a nightly deserted alley over the bleeding body of an unknown Aug, whose metal had been just a bit too shiny, the visible skin just a bit too healthy to really go with those tattered clothes. Holding his weapon still ready, he heard the low thud of someone else jump landing at some distance behind him.  
What a bad cliché, he thought idly at Prague’s commonly occurring rain that had started pouring down moments ago, he turned and aimed at the dark figure barely to be made out in the darkness there. It was pure instinct, a reflex from the war that made him pull the trigger when one of those sleek arms was being lifted too quickly. He felt the swish of some projectile missing him just so. The _Omph_ behind him though had been unexpected, kept him from pulling the trigger again. His head jerked around just fast enough to see a cloaking device sizzling out, revealing another attacker, similar to the first, just without that badly made disguise.  
Augmented almost as much as Jensen. Metal and polymer, made to fight and kill, and yet Adam was different, Jim decided. Looking back at the dark and tall man now cautiously stepping closer to him, hands held in a demonstratively non threatening way. There was something else deep down in the black and gold designs, in the way the man wore them, a humanity that even some of their natural agents lacked at times. 

It might have been the wrong place and the wrong time to get this giddy about surprising the usually so unshakable agent. Who probably had expected to get shot or at least shouted at again, but Jim was not getting angry in the slightest, instead there was an odd calm coming over him as he slowly secured his weapon and put it back into his jacket. There was some adrenaline induced tension, yet for the most part, he simply felt relief.  
Two assassins coming for him, being _sent_ after him, pretty certain by people he had thought of as being on his own team once. If Adam hadn't-... Another truth he no longer could deny, as frightening as it was, it was also freeing him in some weird way.  
“How many more have you kept from getting this close?” the Australian asked, not sure if he really wanted to know. “And uh-, sorry about-, it was just-, did I-?.” He stopped his struggle with words as Adam merely shrugged it off as nothing. Right, that shield thingy, limbs that don't bleed or had he actually not even hit him? At that close a distance? _Christ, he really was getting old..._ Catching his own train of thought before it could run off any further, Jim turned back towards the second attacker, nudging the corpse with his foot. Letting out a deep sigh.  
“Seems I'm really being retired now.” he straightened up again and looked back to Adam, who was watching him with that by now quite familiar subtle hesitance. Caution struggling visibly with the want for trust and honesty. After all this time he had learned to read the man at least to that degree.  
Jim couldn't help to pull a grimace, feeling bitter sweet for what he was about to leave behind, and yet he was ready for tackling what ever there was to come, to finally learn what all this was about. “You and your hacker friend happen to have any plans for that?“


End file.
